In the wake of the news.

Angelo's a GM out of control

January 16, 2004|By Rick Morrissey.

If you want to believe money wasn't an issue in the Bears' talks with LSU coach Nick Saban, as general manager Jerry Angelo insisted Thursday, that's your prerogative. It doesn't much matter anyway in the wake of Angelo's astonishing assertion that it was control of the club's 53-man roster that kept the Bears from getting Saban.

If we go by Angelo's version of events, the Bears missed out on the best candidate for their head-coaching position because the general manager, in essence, wanted control of whether the backup right guard stays or goes. Swell. I wonder what one of those instant polls would reveal about the relative popularity of Saban and Angelo in Chicago right now.

Angelo apparently believes it's better to look power hungry than cheap, although he became a bit agitated Thursday when talking about the perceptions of him that cropped up during the coaching search.

"It has nothing [to do] with control freak or he's going to shove some player down his throat or he's going to make him hire coaches," Angelo said. "I've listened to so much crap in the last two weeks, I've [had] to look myself in the mirror. I said, `You know, I should have a turban on.'"

Where were we? Ah, yes, introducing Lovie Smith as the Bears' new coach.

"I believe this is the best job in football," Angelo said.

The bathroom's right over there, Jerry, and here's a plastic jar for the sample. If this were the best job in the NFL, a Jimmy Johnson or a Nick Saban would have been standing at the lectern Thursday. Instead, it was Lovie Smith, at $1.35 million per year. What a bargain.

Smith said all the right things, stressing that beating the Packers was the No. 1 goal for the Bears. You got the feeling that Smith had been thoroughly briefed. Wonder if he knows that, to the Packers, the Bears are terriers nipping at heels.

Wait a second, we have an announcement from Alexander Haig.

"I have control over the 53," Angelo said. "I have control over all personnel matters--trades, waiver wire, claiming players. I would think if you did the research, as I'm sure most of you have, 90 percent of the general managers in the league have that autonomy."

That might be true. But in order to get the best coaches, sometimes you have to give in a little. Or even a lot. Saban is one of those sicko football coaches who spends most of his time studying film and the rest of it thinking about practice. He has been a winner at every stop. He's going to be a winner in the NFL--with control over his roster--and he'll make some owner very happy.

It won't be the McCaskeys.

"I wasn't worried about having a little egg on my face," Angelo said, and that's good, because he has enough for an omelet, a souffle and a tasty chocolate mousse.

Smith has his work cut out for him, of course, with a roster that's thin and a coaching staff that is being put together on the fly. But he knows that whatever happens with the Bears, good or bad, will be determined by the progress of quarterback Rex Grossman. We'll have to see if the offensive staff Smith assembles is capable of molding Grossman into something special.

But enough about that.

"I don't want anybody to come out of [this and say] that it's about a control freak," Angelo said. "That's crap. That's just crap."

Not only is he protesting too much, he's using the word "crap" too much.

Smith said he'll install a version of the offense that has made St. Louis and Kansas City so successful. That will make Grossman, who said Thursday "we really need a new scheme," very happy. It will make wide receiver Marty Booker, who said "the only way we can go is up," very happy.

"Happy," by the way, rhymes with "crappy."

"I'm a general manager," Angelo said. "I have to make sure of the whole health of our organization--players, coaches and anything that I see that might be detrimental to that. I have to do my job."

Everybody seems a bit exhausted by the last two weeks--fans, reporters, Angelo and Smith. It's time to look to the future. "I'm never going to do this again," Angelo said. "This is my last time, I promise you that. The next autopsy will be mine. If I did this wrongly, don't worry about me coming back here."